Originally Posted by tom2112
Crooked Tree:
I'm not sure how they wired it. When I took it in, the guy told me all kinds of crazy sh*t, including that the factory stereo was wired to the amp with fiber optics. I told him flat out that I knew that wasn't true, and he argued with me that he had called the manufacturer. I asked him if he meant Pioneer or Karman or Mercedes or Chrysler, and he didn't know what to say.
Anyway, I left. When I came back to ask him about wiring in my rear view camera, he changed his tune. He still charged me too much, but I wanted it done professionally, and didn't want to tear my brand new SRT apart. I paid $250 for the total install, remove old head, wire new head and wire in GPS and rear view camera.
Don't be too hard on the guy, he might very well have been told that by the dealer. I own a stero shop and when I bought the wife's new ML the dealership told me all sorts of things like I had to buy thier CD changer if I did not want to harm the computer and the factory headunit was fiberoptic wired. He said I could not get a aftermarket system to work without making the engine run bad. I just smiled and said when I bring it back by it will have a new headunit for you to see. A lot of MB vehicles are indeed fiber optic and various manufactures tie all types of data bus systems through thier radios but I knew this one wasn't one of them. I took it by to show him a week later and explained a $10.99 harness was all it took. $170 max to install your components at our shop if you already had the electronics, cheaper if you had purchased here.
$250 is really not out of line if it was done correctly and neatly.